Hogwarts Express Derailed
by aimeedaralyon
Summary: DRABBLE. Padma Patil gets the lead on a story for the Daily Prophet, and it's a big one. Written for the Houses Competition round 3: Forgotten Heroes.


**House: Eagles**

**Class: History of Magic**

**Category: Drabble**

**Prompt: [Setting] Daily Prophet Newsroom**

**Words: 891**

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**Hogwarts Express Derailed**

Padma Patil hurriedly entered the Daily Prophet newsroom at Diagon Alley's headquarters. Her boss, the editor-in-chief Barnabas Cuffe, was not in his office and it was imperative that she got the 'go-ahead' right away so the news bulletin could be sent out by owl. She scanned the room and saw many colleagues discussing the latest news in small groups. When they noticed her, a few of them sent her a sour look making it clear they did not approve of her getting the lead on this story, whilst others came up to her to give her more background information about the history of the Hogwarts Express and the King's Cross Station. She gratefully accepted the additional information whilst making sure that she didn't lose her freshly written article in all the paperwork.

"Patil!" her boss's voice called from the entrance of the newsroom.

Padma immediately turned around and marched over to him. He extended his hand to the one piece of parchment that was meant for him. She placed her article it into his waiting hand and slowly the room became quiet, everyone was waiting for her boss's verdict. She reread her article with him, looking over his shoulder.

**THE DAILY PROPHET – EXTRA BULLETIN**

**By Padma Patil**

**WOUNDED AT KING'S CROSS: HOGWARTS EXPRESS DERAILED**

**More than 50 students were injured and brought to St. Mungo's. **

**For reasons that are not yet known, the Hogwarts Express that was coming from Hogwarts to return to King's Cross Station (Platform 9¾), derailed whilst stopping at Platform 9¾. The train, a 4-6-0 Hall Class steam locomotive with no record of prior technical faulty, crashed into the platform causing considerable damage to the platform and the people on it. Through combined forces from bystanders, the train was lifted and moved to Platform 7½ by means of joint casting of the levitation spell. When the doors finally opened, it became evident that some students inside the train were severely injured as one of the non-injured witnesses described a "horrid and bloody scenery." It was reported that Head Boy Edward Lupin initiated transport for wounded students to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries by side-apparation from the gathered 7th years on board the train. Additionally, some 5th and 6th years healed some minor injuries of classmates with Healing Spells and made sure the other students got off the train alright. Aurors were immediately called to the scene and the authorities have completely closed the site off for visitors at this moment. Temporary anti-apparating shields were put up and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE) spokeswoman Susan Bones asked witnesses to report themselves to the DMLE Witness Room 1. The Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was not reachable for commentary, neither was the Head of the Auror Office or the Head of the DMLE. However, the Minister will give a press conference within the hour at the DMLE Press Room 2. There are already rumours of this being a possible attack from Novus D.E. (New Death Eater conspiracy group) but this is not yet confirmed. **

**This bulletin will be regularly updated by use of Protean Charm. Don't cast any spells at the bulletin as it will undo the Protean Charm.**

Padma waited patiently for her boss to say something and she noticed that the room was still eerily quiet. He pushed the piece of parchment back into her hands and straightened his big moustache. "Go print it."

Then he turned to Bradley Johnson and motioned him to go to the copy room, "Johnson, go with her and recheck the Protean Charm before sending it off."

"Yes, sir," the young spell worker replied.

Just when Padma and Bradley wanted to leave, one of the most famous article writers stormed into the newsroom. Sir Amorim, no one knew his first name, was out of breath and immediately ran over to the editor-in-chief. "Sir, multiple witnesses gave an independent statement that a person was spotted just before the train crashed."

Waves of shock seemed to move through the brightly-lit room and again everyone waited for the editor-in-chief to give out the orders.

"Print this, Patil!" he tapped the piece of parchment in her hands and continued, "In five minutes we will have an update ready mentioning the spotted person."

"Yes, sir!" Padma said and hurriedly left to the copy room and Johnson was right behind her.

Barnabas Cuffe turned to the rest of the people in the room. "Lancaster, Wellington, Merton and Enfield, I want these witnesses named and thoroughly checked, ask Amorim for details. Acker and Cornish I want questions made for the press conference. Winthrop and Winthrop, you both will look even deeper into the history of a crashed train running on magic. Hackney, Jones and Skeeter, I want you to see if you can enter the area and see if you can find traces of Dark Magic or anything else that can be a sign for purposely derailing the train, be careful. The rest will monitor all incoming messages and rumours. We need to get this information out there fast! As of now, all other stories are on hold. Manning, I want you in my office!"

Hurriedly, everyone started the work at hand, disappearing wherever they needed to. The editor-in-chief and Manning stalked out of the newsroom and closed the door behind them.


End file.
